The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a final rule amending its disclosure of records and information regulation. This final rule addresses the confidential treatment of information obtained by the bureau in connection with the exercise of its authorities under federal consumer financial laws.
“The rule seeks to balance concerns regarding the bureau’s need to protect confidential personal, business, supervisory, and investigative information against the need to use and disclose certain information in the course of the bureau’s work or the work of other agencies with overlapping statutory or regulatory authority,” the bureau stated in a release.
CFPB received 27 comment letters in response to the proposed rulemaking.
“Commenters generally expressed concerns about whether the rule, as proposed, would sufficiently protect sensitive information,” the final rule stated. “Commenters also expressed concerns with a proposed new definition of ‘agency’…which they believe to be overly broad.”
According to the bureau, the final rule is meant to improve clarity and transparency by revising the rules related to the bureau’s information practices; improve bureau relationships with agency partners and others by increasing clarity and eliminating unnecessary hurdles to collaboration; improve the bureau’s ability to protect its confidential information; and provide guidance to industry stakeholders on how the bureau interprets its own rules.